Book Review: Willing Sacrifice of Shannon K. Butcher

Title: Willing Sacrifice
Series: Sentinel Wars, Book 8
Author: Shannon K. Butcher
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
Published: March 4, 2014 by Signet

Theronai warrior Torr has never forgotten Grace, the human who stole his heart and nearly gave her life to save his. So when he is summoned to the aid of Brenya, the powerful woman who healed Grace, he is devastated to find that Grace’s cure has left her mind devoid of any memory of Torr or their love.

However, despite not knowing who he is, Grace is inexplicably drawn to the dark warrior. As they team up to stop the invasion that threatens the people Grace now considers family, her memories slowly start resurfacing. But sometimes the past is best forgotten—a lesson that Torr may learn too late..

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: This was fine but not the romance I wanted for these two characters because it felt like the romantic tension wasn’t fulfilled from the previous seven books.

The Set Up: Torr is a Theronai warrior battling evil on earth to save humans. He was near death until human Grace gave up her life for his. A powerful healer offered to help Grace but the price was she’d not remember Torr or her sacrifice. Part of the healer’s payment is Torr must fight for her people if called which Torr does, even though being near Grace who doesn’t remember him is torture. As Grace and Torr team up to save Grace’s adopted people, the battle on earth finds them anyway and threatens their new relationship.

Why I Read this Book: I’ve enjoyed this series.

What I Like: I love Torr, as I have all the heroes of this series. He’s got such honor, agreeing to never tell Grace about their past no matter the cost to himself. I loved watching his vulnerability as he wants Grace but can’t for her own good. This seemed appropriate after all Grace had done in the previous books to keep Torr safe. Grace was a likable heroine as she retained a lot of her warm-heartedness from the previous books.

Their relationship is based upon their forced proximity of having to save Grace’s adopted people from the same threat that Torr fights on earth. This peril-based tension is fine and paced well but wasn’t either sexually or emotionally intense. Still the relationship and the plot were fine and kept me reading.

What I Didn’t Like: Amnesia romances are inherently problematic because they don’t have the leads in their right minds for a reconciliation and that’s my primary problem here. Grace doesn’t know Torr or their history for most of this book. Yet the set up from the previous seven books was that human Grace who’d been so abused in life, gave up her health for Torr when he was gravely injured. This was enough of a set up for me, I didn’t need them to have to get to know each other all over again. I wanted them to talk about why Grace did what she did and how it affected Torr. Even Grace being a human and not a Theronai had a quick and manufactured resolution for me.

My other issue is part of this series’ charm is that the other Theronai warriors offer the leads a community of support. But Torr and Grace are “off-world” the entire book so other than the woman who healed Grace, there weren’t any Theronai characters and very few secondary characters (though Tori was here who I absolutely need to read about!) To make it worse, Grace didn’t have the resolution with her brother or the other Theronai in the compound where she and Torr lived in the previous seven books.

IMO: This was an okay read for me but didn’t wow me like I expected it to. Series readers like me will have to read this book but others should skip it.

J9’s Rating:

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J9’s reviews for other books in this series:
Dying Wish, Book 6
Falling Blind, Book 7